Music City Town Hall highlights tension between council and the music community

There was something both amazing and depressing about the huge turnout for the Music City Town Hall meeting at the Garrison on Saturday afternoon. On one hand, it’s incredibly heart-warming that a few hundred musicians, promoters, venue owners, festival organizers and music fans were willing to give up a sunny afternoon outside to sit inside a dark club to talk about how to improve the local scene.

On the other hand, it’s a sad state of affairs when relations between City Council and Toronto’s music community have become so adversarial that so many would be desperate for the chance to have a more conciliatory discussion with a representative of the city.

The town hall was moderated from the stage by the City of Toronto Music Sector Development Officer Mike Tanner and the Garrison’s owner/booker Shaun Bowring, with representatives from Harbourfront, Wavelength and BlogTO running mics around the room to audience members. Unfortunately, the rented wireless mics had reception problems, which left Tanner talking to the room more than was originally intended while the tech problems got worked out.

That wasn’t such a bad thing, as one of the purposes of the event was to connect Tanner to the larger music community and explain what exactly his position had been created for. While the job was originally about facilitating the economic development of the local music industry, Tanner made it clear that he’d rather talk about it as an ecosystem, where tiny shows in someone’s backyard help feed into the larger scene.

The small department that he’s helping to build is part of a larger move to learn from Austin, Texas, and find ways to capitalize on our vibrant scene. Early in the session Tanner pointed out that the only reason Austin is considered the “live music capital of the world” is that its city council passed a resolution declaring it just that. The implication seemed to be that Toronto also has the option to decide to make music a priority, if the political will is there.

Tanner isn’t a politician, though, even if he has a gift for diplomacy and a knack for gracefully hammering home his talking points. As much as his department might be able to help smooth over problems between residents and venues, it’s the elected councillors who are in a position to change policy. And as Tanner pointed out, those councillors tend to only hear complaints about live music from their constituents, so the conversation needs to involve reaching out to politicians to let them know the scene is a priority and positive aspect of our neighbourhoods.

In attendance were representatives from local venues, festivals and event promotion companies, plus a broad cross-section of musicians. The venue, festival and promotions people repeatedly brought up how overly restrictive zoning puts smaller operators at constant risk of being shut down and forces them to bend the rules, an issue Tanner says the city is taking a closer look at and trying to tackle.

The musicians complained about not getting paid enough. Tanner graciously listened before patiently explaining that he couldn’t do much about that.

The zoning situation might just become the most significant issue Tanner’s office will deal with. For many years, the entertainment district has seen clubs pushed out by rising rents and angry condo residents, but the spread of nightlife throughout the rest of the city has run into just as much opposition. When music venues start to flourish in areas like Geary Avenue, the city has responded to favourable media attention with bylaw officers since it’s not zoned correctly for live music. But very little of the city is truly zoned for live music, a situation that would require major political support to change.

There are no easy answers to a lot of these problems, but Tanner did a great job of making people feel like they were listened to, and that he’d do what he could to help.

“Honestly, there is tremendous interest at City Hall about these kinds of issues,” he repeatedly assured the audience, while also cautioning that any changes are going to be incremental.

In the case of Geary, Tanner was able to secure a temporary permit to allow the Sound Séance I festival to occur in June, but the long-term fate of the venues on that strip remains uncertain. All over the rest of Toronto, bar owners continue to host events without an entertainment facility licence, while hoping no one decides to make a big deal about it.

Given the huge turnout, it’s not surprising that a plan is in the works to make Music City Town Halls a regular thing. Even if nothing concrete came out this first one, a lot of seeds are being planted, and there are real glimmers of hope that the relationship between the city and its music scene won’t remain confrontational forever.